‘66 Little Honda P25 – Chicara Nagata

Think of the wildest inspiration you possibly can for a custom bike build. Go on – anything at all. Anything. An aircraft? Done. Hot rods? Done to death. Animals? Architecture? iPhones? Done, done and done. So what happens when you get Chicara Nagata, one of the world’s greatest custom bike builders, and give him an open brief to design a security camera? This happens. And no, we can’t quite believe it either…

Here’s the man himself, Nagata-San. “Last year, there came to me a request from a security equipment manufacturer to create a surveillance camera for them. The president of the company wanted a security equipment such that has never been seen in the past and everything was for me to decide – from idea generation, designing, to working model manufacturing.”

“The deadline had been set on the 3rd of March, prior to ‘Security Show’, which is Japan’s largest exhibition of security and safety equipment which took place this year at Tokyo Big Site from the 4th of March.”

“As soon as I accepted the request, I tried to come up with any novel idea for a security camera, but in vain. My own image about ordinary security camera kept me from having bold and free imagination. Security cameras are usually installed in the ceiling or the walls and they are unrecognized by passengers.”

“How about a security camera which can’t be ignored? I then tried to imagine the shape of a mounting bracket for the body of a camera. What kind of object; shape, color, the way to be installed do I really want?”

“What nobody creates but me is the one which has tires and an engine! I would like it for real riding! The motorcycle security camera came into the world this way. I was very thrilled with this idea and the excitement made me create it original as a security camera and unique as a motorcycle.”

“This work is suitable to be installed in museums, entry hall of a building, hotel lobby and stores, etc. Of course, this can run swiftly in town!”

“I am really grateful that Mr. Kaku of Japan Security System Co., Ltd who gave me this really exciting opportunity.” And we’re grateful that we have bike builders like you, Nagata-San. Otsukare-sama deshita!